


Rainbow Connection

by cherryblossomwrites



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, Bisexual Harry Potter, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 08:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15626619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryblossomwrites/pseuds/cherryblossomwrites
Summary: When the Quibbler runs a Pride Month edition, Harry comes out as bisexual. And now he seems to be seeing Draco a lot more regularly





	Rainbow Connection

When Harry entered the coffee shop, Ginny and Luna were already seated at a table near the back. When he reached them, he hugged them each in turn before they all joined the queue. As they did so, Harry wondered vaguely if it was odd to be getting coffee with his ex-girlfriend and her girlfriend.

‘So, how’s work?’ Ginny asked as the queue slowly moved forwards.

‘Oh, you know,’ Harry said, despite the fact that they definitely didn’t know.

‘Is working with Draco still proving difficult?’ Luna asked.

That was something of an understatement, but Harry didn’t have time to tell Luna as much. He’d now made it to the front of the queue.

Several minutes later, they were back at their table, coffees in hand.

‘So how’s work going for you, Luna?’ Harry asked.

‘Oh, wonderful,’ she said, eyes lighting up. ‘We’ve got a very special edition of the Quibbler planned for June.’

‘Yea?’ Harry asked, trying to feign interest. ‘Have they discovered a new species of fairy?’

‘No, actually, this edition is going to be a bit more Muggle-ish. Have you ever heard of Pride Month?’

‘Uhh, no, I haven’t.’

‘Oh.’ Luna seemed slightly surprised. ‘Well, every June, the Muggles celebrate their rainbow people. They have a name for them.’ She turns to Ginny. ‘Do you remember what it was?’

The two of them spend several minutes trying to remember an unwieldy acronym with no success.

Eventually, Harry clears his throat. ‘So you’re going to do this pride month? At the Quibbler?’

‘Yes, exactly. We’re hoping to do some interviews with some famous rainbow people.’

There was a sinking feeling in Harry’s stomach. He tried to quell it by drinking more coffee.

Luna, completely oblivious, continued talking. ‘Obviously, Ginny’s going to be interviewed, given her success at quidditch.’

‘Of course,’ Harry agreed.

‘And I’m hoping I might be able to interview Dumbledore’s portrait,’ Luna said.

Ginny patted Luna’s hand. ‘I still don’t think that’s going to happen,’ she said.

‘It does seem unlikely,’ Harry agreed.

Luna smiled in sad resignation before perking up slightly. ‘Well, what about you, Harry? Have you considered coming out publicly?’

Harry tried to buy himself some time by focussing all his attention on his coffee. He’d known he was bisexual for a while. When Ginny broke up with him, telling him that she was a lesbian, it had caused him to do his own introspection. While he’d told all his friends, he’d never felt the need to announce it to the world.

‘I don’t know,’ he said eventually.

‘Oh, Harry, think about all the witches and wizards – ’

‘And wixes,’ Ginny added.

‘Right,’ Luna continued. ‘Think about all the children you’d be helping. Knowing that the Chosen One is just like them.’

Harry had to admit that it was a good point. He promised to consider it.

 

At the end of May, Harry received a package at his desk. He knew straight away that it was the new edition of the Quibbler.

In the end, it hadn’t been a very hard decision. In fact, the whole process had been quite painless. He’d sat down for an interview with Luna and then he’d had his photograph taken. The worst part had been the group photographs and the author who had spent the entire time flirting with Harry. But even that had been bearable.

He unwrapped the magazine and was met by six smiling faces on the cover. The words ‘ _Rainbow and Proud_ ’ stretched above the photograph. He flicked through the magazine until he found his interview, under the heading ‘ _The Bisexual One_ ’. It was well written, which he’d always known it would be, and any lingering nerves were quickly dissipating.

He would read the rest of the magazine later; he needed to get back to work. He quickly flicked through the magazine one last time and, in doing so, a flag fell out from between the pages.

Harry quickly turned to the page it had fallen from. It seemed this rainbow flag was another tradition from the Muggle world. He picked the flag up and the rainbow of colours began to glow. It was quite pretty really. Harry propped the flag up in an empty quill holder.

Now he really needed to get back to work.

 

It was several days before the rest of the wizarding world received their copies of the Quibbler. Harry quickly realised the day had come when it took him an extra ten minutes to get to his desk in the morning. Five different people had stopped him along the way to congratulate him or ask him advice.

The day progressed in much the same fashion. Harry was relieved that everyone seemed to be taking it quite well.

And then, about mid-afternoon, Malfoy sauntered over to Harry’s desk. Harry quietly began to panic.

‘I hear congratulations are in order,’ Malfoy said.

‘Apparently, yea,’ Harry agreed.

‘It really is brave of you.’

Harry was suspicious. That sounded remarkably like a genuine compliment. ‘Thanks?’ he said with a hint of a question.

‘I don’t know I’d have been able to do the same, if I were in your position,’ Malfoy continued. ‘Y’know, if I were some big celebrity like you.’

Harry wasn’t quite sure what to make of this mixture of sincerity and vague taunting. ‘Was there something you were needing?’ he asked, words coming out slightly too harsh.

Malfoy shook his head. ‘Just came to say well done.’ His tone was still mostly light, but the moment he finished speaking, he turned on his heel and left.

Harry, not having a clue what to think, just watched him leave.

 

In the days that followed, as mail was delivered around the office, there was always a sizeable pile for Harry. Mostly, they were thank you notes and strangers coming out to Harry in return. But there was the occasional rude letter as well.

Harry was reading one such of these letters as Malfoy approached his desk.

‘Hey Potter, can I – ’ Malfoy cut himself off. ‘You alright, mate?’

‘Swell,’ Harry replied through gritted teeth.

‘You sure?’

‘It’s just – ’ He waved the letter vaguely in the air.

Malfoy, apparently taking this as an invitation, snatched the letter out of Harry’s hand. As he read, a scowl began to form, gradually getting deeper and deeper. Suddenly, he screwed the letter into a ball. ‘Fool needs to go back to the dark ages where he belongs.’

‘It’s kinda unpleasant,’ Harry agreed.

‘Why do you even bother opening these letters?’ Malfoy asked. ‘If that’s what you’re getting, why don’t you just throw them all out?’

‘Most of them are worth it.’ Harry dug around in his pile of mail. ‘Read this one,’ he said, holding out a letter from a thirteen year old boy.

By the time he’d finished reading that letter, Malfoy’s face had softened considerably.

 

Malfoy had spent the last ten minutes perched on the edge of Harry’s desk as the two of them discussed their latest case. Harry was having some trouble focussing on the conversation though, given the aforementioned perching.

As they talked, Malfoy was pawing his way through the items on Harry’s desk, picking up each one in turn.

‘What’s this?’ he asked as he picked up the pride flag. The colours began to glow.

‘Came with the Quibbler,’ Harry mumbled, now distracted by the flag.

‘Why does it glow?’

Harry shrugged. ‘Luna probably just likes the colours,’ he said, even though that definitely wasn’t the reason.

‘That would make sense,’ Malfoy agreed and Harry was about to get offended on Luna’s behalf. ‘They are quite striking.’

‘Yea,’ Harry agreed, as he considered the likelihood that the flag was broken. Surely it shouldn’t be glowing for Malfoy?

 

Late one afternoon, Malfoy was back at Harry’s desk. Harry was starting to feel like he’d seen more of Malfoy in the last two weeks than he had in the previous year.

‘Hey, do you wanna grab a drink after work?’ Malfoy asked, words coming out in a slight rush.

Harry studied Malfoy for a moment. Were they actually becoming friends? More to the point, did Harry want to be friends with Malfoy? ‘Yea, ok,’ Harry agreed.

‘Ok, cool.’ Malfoy said. He fiddled with the pride flag and it once again glowed.

Harry had reread the page in the Quibbler about the pride flag after Malfoy’s previous interactions with it. ‘ _The pride flag will glow when touched by a member of the rainbow community,_ ’ the magazine had said. Harry had ignored the dubiousness of that as a concept to instead focus on the more relevant issue. The flag was trying to say that Malfoy wasn’t straight.

‘By the way,’ Malfoy continued, as he twirled the flag, ‘I finally bought a copy of the Quibbler.’

‘You hadn’t already?’

Malfoy shook his head. ‘I just borrowed Kathy’s copy to read your interview.’

Harry was strangely touched by that. To the point that he couldn’t find the words.

‘Anyway,’ Malfoy said, ‘I ended up reading it cover to cover.’ He gave the flag one final twirl before stepping away from the desk. ‘I’ll see you in half an hour, ok?’

 

‘Haven’t you been here before?’ Malfoy asked a short while later.

Harry shook his head as he continued to look around at the unfamiliar bar.

‘Surprising,’ Malfoy said. ‘Recent interviews suggest this would be right up your alley.’

Harry turned his attention to Malfoy. ‘Is this a gay bar?’

Malfoy shrugged. ‘Sometimes you’ve just got to get away from straight people, y’know?’

It took a moment for the words to sink in. ‘Wait, Malfoy, are you gay?’

Malfoy patted him condescendingly on the shoulder. ‘Y’know, for an auror, you are remarkably unobservant.’

Part of Harry wanted to bite back at that remark, but the rest of him was too distracted by the hopeful thrum that was building inside him. Malfoy really was gay!

‘Seriously Potter,’ Malfoy said, as he steered Harry to the bar with a hand on his back. ‘I could not have been more obvious with that flag.’

‘I figured it was broken,’ Harry said, defensive.

‘What else have you been figuring?’ Malfoy asked.

They sat down on a couple of stools at the bar. ‘What do you mean?’ Harry asked.

‘Well, I asked you to get a drink. Were you figuring we were doing that as mates?’

‘Uhh, yea?’

An amused smile played at the corner of Malfoy’s lips. ‘Would you like me to spell that out for you too?’

‘Not as mates?’ Harry asked.

‘I was hoping it might be a date,’ Malfoy said. ‘Maybe from here we could grab dinner?’

‘Really?’ Harry asked.

‘Only if you want to.’

Harry only had to consider for a moment. The thing was, he really, really did want to. He nodded his agreement.

It seemed this public coming out wasn’t just about helping others. In fact, the best, most far-reaching outcome was happening for Harry instead. And he couldn’t wait to see where it would lead.


End file.
